How much has Covid affected home advantage?

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Is there even much advantage to playing at home these days?

In 2018/19, the last full season before Covid, there were 2036 matches played across all top 4 divisions. This is the first full season without any fans (bar a smattering of games with small crowds prior to Christmas). There have so far been 1663 games played. Here's how the stats compare.

Home win percentage
2018/19: 44.0%
2020/21: 40.4%

Away win percentage
2018/19: 30.1%
2020/21: 34.8%

Average home goals per game
2018/19: 1.48
2020/21: 1.28

Average away goals per game
2018/19: 1.15
2020/21: 1.18

Average points per home team
2018/19: 1.57
2020/21: 1.46

When you look at things division by division, things get even more interesting.

Premier League

Home win percentage
2018/19: 47.6%
2020/21: 36.0%

Home goals scored
2018/19: 1.57
2020/21: 1.32

Home points average
2018/19: 1.62
2020/21: 1.35

Championship

Home win percentage
2018/19: 43.5%
2020/21: 42.0%

Home goals scored
2018/19: 1.51
2020/21: 1.21

Home points average
2018/19: 1.58
2020/21: 1.50

League 1

Home win percentage
2018/19: 41.7%
2020/21: 41.2%

Home goals scored
2018/19: 1.43
2020/21: 1.33

Home points average
2018/19: 1.52
2020/21: 1.47

League 2

Home win percentage
2018/19: 44.2%
2020/21: 40.1%

Home goals scored
2018/19: 1.42
2020/21: 1.27

Home points average
2018/19: 1.59
2020/21: 1.48

[the other bob wilson]

Thanks for that Eric, those figures surprise me because they show home results are holding up better than I thought- they’ve certainly not declined enough to justify our pretty pathetic home record.